In 2004, Geno Morlacci died at age 102—and left $2.3 million to the University of Great Falls, where he had worked as a part-time janitor. Morlacci never had more than a third-grade education. He immigrated to the United States in 1921 at age 19, to help his father run a tavern; he then worked in dry-cleaning for 20 years; and he started his own a dry-cleaning business in 1948, which he ran until he sold it in 1962. He handled every part of his dry-cleaning business—pick-up, delivery, cleaning, and pressing—with his only outside help coming from a cashier. After selling the business, he went into semi-retirement, taking on a part-time job as a janitor at the university, which he left when the university decided it needed full-time help.

How did he do it?

As best as I can tell:

He worked very hard through most of his life, with articles mentioning 18-20-hour days (presumably mostly in connection with his dry-cleaning business).

He kept the expenses in his business very low, by doing most of the work himself and hiring only a cashier. But he was not strictly cheap—he bought top-of-the-line equipment, thinking this was a better value because it would outlast the cheaper equipment.

He was quite frugal.

He patched the pants on his pants.

He turned the collars on his shirts (meaning he removed the collars, turned them over so the frayed side would be hidden, and stitched them back into place).

He and his wife dined out rarely, and when they did, they chose "budget restaurants."

He never ha a fancy car.

He lived next door to where he had his dry-cleaning business.

His and his wife's occasional splurges were measured—an couple of trips to Italy, both times preceded by a purchase of exactly one new dress.

As a widower in retirement, he lived in a retirement home that charged about $500 a month for meals, room, and housekeeping—choosing that over an upscale facility.

He felt "if you didn't need it, you shouldn't buy it" and was critical of people who "needed, in his eyes, instant gratification." He felt that the government and many people spent beyond their means.

He rented out the basement of his home for additional income.

He invested—though the only note I found on his approach or practices was one mentioning he had a "fondness" for tax-free municipal bonds. He did appear to have used a professional investment advisor, from Piper Jaffray.

His home life was stable—with a 46-year marriage (before his wife passed away).

I don't know squat about the dry-cleaning business, but it doesn't seem likely that Morlacci was earning a huge income there. One writer specifically stated he, as a newspaper reporter for the Deseret Morning News, "probably ma[d]e a lot more than Morlacci did cleaning clothes 18 hours a day." So Morlacci's path to millions seems to be summed up as extremely diligent saving and investing over many years. I wish it was a little clearer what he did with his investments and, for instance, at what price he sold his business and what he did with that lump sum.

Now with some of the previous Success Stories on this blog, folks have commented that it seemed pointless to retire or pass away with so much money and then just give it all away. That's not really my takeaway—and I'm not really trying to judge what Morlacci or others do with their money (though you're welcome to comment on whatever you like!). The point for me is really a broken record: if you save and invest for many years, a million or a couple of million dollars is certainly in reach. And this appears to hold true even if your income is low.

53
comments:

Anonymous

I think a lot of these "success stories" you mention in your blog give people the wrong impression. No one wants to be rich in their graveyard. I know multi-millionaires but they don't live that frugally; they take regular vacations, splash out from time to time, drive good cars and live comfortably in good houses. The main reason they are rich because they invest heavily in their career/ business or whatever they do to earn a living. They also obviously practice frugality, stay out of debt and re-invest their money but the stories you mention are quite unlike of what real multi-millionaires are like. This is extreme frugality and I don't recommend anyone practice this.

Sure it does seem pointless that he passed away with all that money but the key thing is that he serves as an example to all of us that even on a meagre income great things can be achieved with time and patience and of course saving.

i totally agree with you saying a couple million dollars is totally possible if you invest and save for a number of years... i know several people who are what some people call "secret millionaires"...

Obviously the man made money by owning his own business. I think it is ignorant of the writer to assume that dry cleaner owners don't make money. Any business owner has the potential to make millions, especially in much needed service industries. Everyone knows that people make a lot more by owning their own business than working for someone. This 'dry cleaner owner' probably made $250,000 a year!

Nice, I like this "success stories" series you have here.... I think the point of these isn't to die rich, but to show how it's possible to become that millionaire yourself...

My own goal is to have multiple streams of income that I can live off of, with some room to save even further and take one good two-three-month vacation a year. I want to own a house and one that I rent out; that's about all I need.

I run a dry cleaners in sydney, melbourne, brisbane and perth in Australia. We operate as a dry cleaning delivery service, so as money energy desires, it is certainly possible to generate streams of income to live off through various commercial dry cleaning runs that can be picked up and operated, and then distributed amongst your the different dry cleaners that you have employed

This reminds me a lot about the book, "Millionaire Next Door" What most people don't realize is that as long as your live below your means, you follow that list, and bring in income, you shouldn't have a problem making money!

saving and investing is what we were told to do to build wealth by our parents.traditionally we were brought up in the culture to go to college then get a high paying job, like a ceo, lawyer or doctor. but if you dont have the education then being street smart is your best bet and alot of the richest people in the world were not formally educated so they had to make it work!

Pavé Tile Co combines over forty years of expertise and passion to bring you an inspiring collection of crafted tiles sourced from cutting-edge designs from Europe and across the globe. Located at 339 Swan Street, Richmond, Melbourne 3121

Application concerns that have been updated with Apple Replica Watches release dateCook, because there are times when Apple has introduced a new Replica watches UK , if you have to always release or past, if all parts of the world will be able to handbag replica more or less buy at the same time, all of the insight, staggered are you I did not reveal is.Apple price of previously entry-level Apple Rolex Daytona , dollar 229 pounds, it was confirmed that the current is equal to about $ 349 Replica handbags .

Post a Comment

Comments are what make lots of blogs go 'round. Thank you for participating in this blog by adding a comment!

Also, my apologies. The comment spam coming into this blog has really been on the rise, and the word verification feature does not seem to be slowing it down very well. So for now, I am trying the addition of a registration (OpenID/Google/similar) requirement for leaving comments.

Note on Advertising and Privacy

All advertising on this blog is paid by the impression, click, action, or along those lines. There is no pay per post, pay per mention/review, pay for saying great things about something, pay for saying nasty things about something, or that kind of stuff.

This blog is not doing much in the way of collecting personal data of its own accord, and when it does (e.g., for a contest or a survey), I'll try to be explicit about what's going on. This blog does serve ads from and through third-party services and networks, such as Adify (including through the Forbes Business & Finance Blog Network), Google AdSense, Amazon.com (Associates program), ADSDAQ, and Commission Junction. As best as I understand them, one or more of those may collect non-personal data during the course of your visiting this blog (e.g., number of impressions); and they collect personal data if you click on the ads or initiate a transaction (in which case you'll have left this blog and will be under those folks' privacy policies).

Serious Legal Stuff

I'm not a finance professional, and any real advice would and should be tailored to your individual circumstances by a professional or you thinking really hard about it. Not a blog.